Interview with Annabel Sowemimo, author of Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare
Annabel Sowemimo, author of Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare recommends a critical collection of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Annabel's book:
Description from Bookshop.org:
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all too aware of the urgent health inequalities that plague our world. But these inequalities have always been urgent: modern medicine has a colonial and racist history.
(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare
Here, in an essential and searingly truthful account, Annabel Sowemimo unravels the colonial roots of modern medicine. Tackling systemic racism, hidden histories and healthcare myths, Sowemimo recounts her own experiences as a doctor, patient and activist.
Divided exposes the racial biases of medicine that affect our everyday lives and provides an illuminating - and incredibly necessary - insight into how our world works, and who it works for.
This book will reshape how we see health and medicine - forever.
Buy On:
Easons €28.00
Bookshop.org UK £19.00
Waterstones £17.99
Wordery $20.99
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
I have many but I think bell hooks Sister of the Yam: Black Women and Self Recovery had a very profound effect on me. I read it about a decade ago and at the time I was feeling tired. I think when you are committed to change particularly issues of social justice, often your own needs become marginalised. It can take a physical and emotional toll. It serves as a reminder that if I am going to continue doing the work that I believe needs to be done then I also need to be equally as diligent in centring pleasure and joy in my life.
Description from Bookshop.org:
In Sisters of the Yam, bell hooks reflects on the ways in which the emotional health of black women has been and continues to be impacted by sexism and racism. Desiring to create a context where black females could both work on their individual efforts for self-actualization while remaining connected to a larger world of collective struggle, hooks articulates the link between self-recovery and political resistance.
(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery
Both an expression of the joy of self-healing and the need to be ever vigilant in the struggle for equality, Sisters of the Yam continues to speak to the experience of black womanhood.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org US $41.94
Waterstones £15.95
Wordery $36.99
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
I have recently been reading Sara Ahmed’s The Feminist Killjoy Handbook and so much of it resonates with me. She highlights how problematic institutions are preserved, how if you raise a problem, rather than the problem being addressed, you then become the problem that needs to be addressed. It is a book of gems. There is such power in sharing your experiences.
Description from Bookshop.org:
Do colleagues roll their eyes in a meeting when you use words like sexism or racism? Do you refuse to laugh at jokes that aren't funny? Have you been called divisive for pointing out a division? Then you are a feminist killjoy, and this handbook is for you.
(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way
The term killjoy has been used to dismiss feminism by claiming that it causes misery. But by naming ourselves feminist killjoys, we recover a feminist history, turning it into a source of strength as well as an inspiration.
Drawing on her own stories and those of others, especially Black and brown feminists and queer thinkers, Sara Ahmed combines depth of thought with honesty and intimacy. The Feminist Killjoy Handbook unpicks the lies our culture tells us and provides a form of solidarity and companionship that can be returned to over a lifetime.
Buy On:
Easons €17.99
Bookshop.org UK £19.00
Bookshop.org US $26.97
Waterstones £20.00
Wordery $20.44
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
I really loved Elmer the Elephant. My mum is a trained primary school teacher so, we had a lot of children’s books at home. I had never really thought of the deeper significance of Elmer being multi-coloured and be ostracised. I just knew that Elmer was colourful, and I loved that.
Description from Bookshop.org:
Elmer is different. Elmer is patchwork.
(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Elmer: The Story of a Patchwork Elephant
The grey elephants all love him, but he soon starts to wonder what it would be like to be just the same as them...
Full of colour, wisdom and pathos, little readers will love this classic tale at bedtime.
Deservedly a modern classic, with over ten million copies of his books sold worldwide, Elmer’s subtle message, that it is OK to be different, resonates with children across the world. Elmer the colourful patchwork elephant has been a nursery favourite since 1989.
Buy On:
Easons €7.69
Bookshop.org UK £6.64
Bookshop.org US $7.43
Waterstones £12.99
Wordery $9.35
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
I really like holding a book in my hand, I am a big note taker and enjoy the act of highlighting and marking my books. As an adult, I learnt that I am dyslexic which makes a lot of sense because looking at screens for prolonged periods has always been very challenging for me.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
I’m going to have to give you two! Housmans is a non for profit, radical bookstore in King’s cross that has existed since 1945. I used to live in King’s cross as a student and they have so many great book events. Then there is Waterstone’s Gower Street, it is in the heart of student territory, and I spent several years studying and meeting friends there. When I was stressed about medical exams, I would wander in and look through the shelves and I have a lot of great memories in that building .
Many thanks to Annabel for recommending a critical collection of books! Please don't forget to check out Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Profile Books Ltd (Divided), Routledge (Sisters of the Yam), Penguin Books Ltd (The Feminist Killjoy Handbook), Elmer (Random House Children's Publishers UK).
< Home
